Background

Leonado Da Vinci
Da Vinci described the chimney jack, as the hot air from the fire rose, it was made to pass through a series of fan blades and through a series of gears, turn a roasting.

Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton formulated the laws of MOTION on which all devices utilizing the jet propulsion theory are based. The vehicle illustrated in the picture below , called Newton's wagon , applied the principle of jet propulsion . It is though that Jacob Gravesand , a Dutchman , actually designed this " horseless carriage", and that Isaac Newton may have only supplied the idea. The wagon consisted of a large boiler mounted on four wheels. Steam generated by fire built below the boiler was allowed to escape through a nozzle facing rearward. The speed of vehicle was controlled by a steam cock located in the nozzle.

HISTORY

England
Sir Frank Whittle :Whittle is considered by many to be the father of the jet engine. In 1930 Frank Whittle submitted his patent application for a jet aircraft engine.

The first Whittle engine was called the Power Jet W.1, after its manufacturere. It flew in the British Gloster G.40 on May 15, 1941 with W 1 Whittle engine installed.

Germany

VON OHAIN At the same time, von Ohain in Germany had been at work on the development of a jet engine for aircraft. He built and ran his first demonstration engine in 1937. His first flight engine was the HES 3B which used on HE178 and flew on August 27,1939.
     The Whittle and the von Ohain engines led to successful jet-powered fighter aircraft by the end of World War II , the Messerschmitt Me262 that was used by German Air Force.
     It might be note that the early English production jet engine used centrifugal compressor where as the production engine in Germany employed the more advanced axial flow compressor.

America

America was a late-comer to the jet-propulsion field and with the help of British Government , the General Electric Corporation was awarded the contract to built W.1 an American Version. The first jet engine airplane in America was made in October 1942, in Bell XP-59A . The two General Electric I-A engines used in this airplane, the I-A engine was rated at about 1300 lb of thrust. In late 1941 , NAVY awarded the contract to Westinghouse . Westinghouse engineers designed an engine with an axial compressor and an anular combustion chamber. Shortly thereafter, several other companies began to design and produce gas turbine engines.